William Peter Blatty, the author of The Exorcist, is asking Georgetown alumni, faculty, students, and friends to join in his canonical case, in which he will ask the Archdiocese of Washington and the Holy See to take action “up to including the possible removal or suspension of top-ranked Georgetown’s right to call itself Catholic or Jesuit in its fundraising and representations to applicants.”

In his plea for support of the canonical case, Blatty argues that Georgetown has failed to comply with the standards set forth in Ex Corde Ecclesiae for the conduct of Catholic universities. He lists a series of offenses, leading up to this week’s decision by Georgetown to honor Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services. “Georgetown is being dishonest” by presenting itself as a Catholic institution, the author argues. “Together, we need to end that!”

Blatty—who won an Oscar for the screenplay of the film based on his best-selling novel—is a member of Georgetown’s class of 1950, and a recipient of the university’s John Carroll Medal for alumni achievement. In presenting his argument for action against Georgetown, he emphasized his own debt to the school and his desire to bring Georgetown back into line with its Catholic heritage.

Blatty has enlisted the Cardinal Newman Society and the St. Joseph Foundation to assist with his canonical case.

We may choose to file a canon action again, one much larger in scale and seeking alternative forms of relief that will include, among others, that Georgetown’s right to call itself Catholic and Jesuit be revoked or suspended for a time. We will ask for lesser relief as well. Of course, what we truly seek is for Georgetown to have the vision and courage to be Catholic but clearly the slow pastoral approach has not worked. I invite you to sign the “Mandate of Procurator” on this website so that I, and other alumni, parents, teachers and students, may represent you in this special and historic Church petition.

This goes directly to what I pointed out in my post yesterday, When Bishops Allow the Weeds to Choke Out the Wheat. There comes a point when bishops must recognize their concern for uprooting the wheat with the weeds, is allowing certain weeds to choke out the wheat. The slow, prudential approach has been employed for about 50 years now, and all it has yielded is fields overrun with weeds. It's time for other methods.

The university need not be stripped of it's Catholic status immediately. There are other penalties that can be imposed first. But it's obvious that public statements of disappointment are.... well, only a disappointing and ineffective methods.

Lest we forget, basic Catholicism isn't the only thing that Kathleen Sebelius has flunked. She has served in government for a very long time, and doesn't even know Constitution 101 as it pertains to religious liberty.

For interesting news items I don't have time to blog on, check out my Twitter Feed: @TeDeumBlog

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron

St. John of the Cross

Dark Night of the Soul (2.2:3)...

"...the devil causes many to believe in vain visionsand false prophecies; and strives to make them presumethat God and the saints are speaking with them; and they often trust their own fancy. And the devil is also accustomed, in this state, to fill them with presumption and pride, so that they become attracted by vanity and arrogance, and allow themselves to be seen engaging in outward acts which appear holy, such as raptures and other manifestations. Thus they become bold with God, and lose holy fear, which is the key and the custodian of all the virtues; and in some of these souls so many are the falsehoods and deceits which tend to multiply, and so inveterate do they grow, that it is very doubtful if such souls will return to the pure road of virtue and true spirituality."